Bertramus, Bonaventura Cornelius. Gal’Ed / Comparatio grammaticae Hebraicae & Aramicae [“Comparative Grammar of Hebrew and Aramaic.”]

Printed with a Ketubah written in the final years of the MarseillesJewish community. Most fascinating about this early Hebrew grammar is the inclusion of the printed text of a Hebrew Marriage Contract (Kethubah) from Marseilles, France dated 1494 (see pp. 437-8). Therein we read how “on Friday, the fourth of Sivan, in the year 5254 [1494 C.E.], here in the city of Massilia [i.e. Marseilles] by the Sea, the groom R. Moses, son of R. Judah, said to Ms. Clarona, daughter of R. David, son of R. Moses of Lisbon…” What is all the more remarkable is the late date of the Kethubah, for by 1494, Jews were persona non grata in Marseilles. As early as 1484, lawless bands pillaged and massacred the Jewish community of Marseilles, while demanding from King Charles VIII that the survivors be immediately expelled from Provence.